After Coimbra I decided to come to Guimar„es for the carnaval, attending the invitation I got from the people here. I was picked up in the train station by my hosts, Filipa and Helena and shortly after we went to the movies to see The Departed / Os Infiltrados / Entre Inimigos. Fortunately the movies in Portugal are usually subtitled and not dubbed, but that didn't avoid some rather puzzling moments, when I didn't pay attention to the speech and couldn't guess what had been said by reading the text. I soon adapted to it, but still some things were pretty funny, especially the way they translated the bad words. :) And then there was an interval right in the middle of the movie, long enough for me to forget what was going on... Still I enjoyed the movie.The next night was the carnaval party, very funny to spend the carnaval in Portugal. :) But here in Guimar„es all there was was this party on Monday (nothing like the four days of parties going on everywhere we get in Brazil), which looked like a pretty standard night club party in Rio, except that (almost) everybody wore a costume and there were some really strange Portuguese songs. Some of them were obviously joke songs, but I was hard pressed to determine which... Plus my communication skills proved to be still deficient when I ordered a beer and got a coffee. But on second thought maybe it was the bartender's fault - if I were a bartender and some guy asked me for coffee during the carnaval party I would undoubtedly hand him a beer. The party was good, but the best about it was surely seeing my hosts and some of their friends dancing dressed as bees, while another one dressed as a beekeeper. :)The next day I spent sleeping and the two others wandering around the city, which is pretty nice. Especially the narrow streets lined with stone houses where people have to hug the walls whenever a car comes. And it seems also that almost everywhere you can eat reasonably good food, even if it is the cold liver sandwich I got for lunch one day because it was cheap (and it was good, believe me). I also got a cell phone and a camera (finally!), so a few pictures should be here as soon as I can upload them.Thanks again to Filipa, Helena and their very friendly dog, if they ever read this. :)

Comments

rats... and now bees?? hahaha i can imagine the look on your face at this carnival party. and HOW COME can you mess it up when ordering beer IN PORTUGUESE???? God, there are things in life i just dont get!! :P
the thing is PARTY ON!!! and plz let us know ur cel phone number so I can send u a sms (VIVO delivers sms to Portugal at least!!)